Ella Wilson
Oh, cute little Ella with her broken arm! When she first broke it, she was very tentative and went through life very carefully. Not anymore. She jumps and flips around on the tramp with her brothers and sisters. She plays on the playground, sliding one-armed down the fireman's pole. She runs and jumps and clogs. We've kept her in clogging, although she's opted not to perform the one dance in which the choreography calls for some getting down on the floor and holding hands and skipping. The doctor said no to soccer so we removed her from that, but, honestly, I think she could have done just fine with it, the way she runs around. She is now going out to recess--only staying inside when it rains. Water is still an issue. She can't get baptized on time, she can't go swimming (we're going to a hotel with a pool next weekend and she's disappointed about that), I give her her baths with her arm in a garbage bag. But otherwise she functions pretty normally. She dresses herself--just needing help with tying her shoes and tasks like that. She had a hard time sleeping early on, but that's long gone as she's become accustomed to her cast. She'll get a new cast next week. She's nervous to get her cast taken off but excited to pick out a new onw.

Ella is enjoying school. Her teacher is fantastic and is opening up a wonderful world of learning to her class. I can tell from the comments and observations Ella makes about life how much she is learning and how much her educational view of life is expanding. I am so thankful to her teacher for doing such a good job.

 Ella's testimony grows every day. She loves paying her tithing and does it weekly, whether she's actually earned any money during that week or not. She has been talking to her friend Grace White about the church and has brought Grace to church several times. The interesting thing about that is that this family is on the rolls of the Church but is not active. When I called to invite their older daughter to come to a Young Women's activity, the mother declined our invitation on the grounds that they had differing beliefs. But a week or so later when Ella invited Grace, the mother said she was okay with it. I guess it just took sweet little Ella to do the inviting! Since that time Grace has come to church several times.

Ella continues to quietly go about doing good things. I'm very thankful for her!

April 4, 2012. Seven years old. Second grade.

Sweet little Ella broke her arm! When her Uncle Rusty heard about it, he promptly sent her flowers and a balloon. She was super excited about that. Her friend Chloe, on her clogging team, gave her a sweet get-well note.
Her hospital band. She was already in the system when we checked her in because she was born there!
Ella has a fantastic teacher this year. Besides doing a phenomenal job at teaching the children, Ms. Distelrath is wonderful at building relationships with them. Here is a postcard she sent to Ella while she was on vacation. Ella responded by writing her back and Ms. Distelrath sent Ella a note in return.

Then there's a piece of writing Ella wrote in class to which her teacher responded.
Some Ella schoolwork. I am thrilled with Ella's learning experience this year.
Ella copied this poem from the "Friend" and decorated it. I thought it was beautiful. Read her sweet testimony that I found.
Sweet Ella creations
Here are some birthday parties Ella went to recently. At Nicole's they tie-dyed t-shirts which Ella loved. At Carson's she got to go to Wahoo's. She'd never been there before and she was really excited. It was even more fun because Abigail went, too. Carson's older sister was allowed to bring one friend and she chose Abbie. The girls had a fun time.

And then there's a birthday card for Abbie from Great Grandma and Grandpa Rogers. Ella loved it because it's one of those cards that plays music when you open it and it happened to play the song that Ella is dancing to in clogging. She loved playing with it.
Ella continues to love to make things. Here are a whole bunch of Ella creations.
These next were inspired by Zeke who loves to draw and especially loves to draw comics with specific characters. So Ella and Brock created their own characters and comics.
Here are some notes from Ella to various members of the family. They illustrate her sweet heart and cute little sense of humor.
Long before Christmas ever came, Ella set feverishly out to make cards for everyone in the family, complete with stamps, cute brads, and other embellishments.
On Christmas Eve, Ella left this note with the cookies for Santa. It was evident to me that her note was in earnest, fueled by belief. I tried to explain (remember, it's Christmas Eve night) that Santa sometimes couldn't bring little girls real dogs. Sometimes they needed to be happy with stuffed dogs. Luckily, I convinced her to hope for a stuffed dog. Whew.
Ella made one of these for everyone in the family to fill out. Many of the kids were super cute about dutifully filling out their trees and getting them back to Ella.
Here are some notes from Ella's grandmas, followed by her part in the Sacrament Meeting Program.
Some sweet creations from Abbie for Ella. Thank heavens for the influence of older siblings!
Ella made this after watching a movie with romance in it. Gregg and I loved it.
Ella's report card and IRI results. I am thrilled with Ella's teacher this year. She is phenomenal. And she gave a glowing report of Ella who has flourished in her class.
I have been going into Ella's classroom once a month and doing science presentations. It has been a blast. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. In November (the first month I did it) I brought in our snake, one of our chickens (a small one), and a mouse we had bought for the snake to it. We talked about animal classification and the kids loved the animals. In December we continued to talk about animal classification and we did a puppet show. In January we built a skeleton out of milk jugs and started talking about the human body. I have loved being able to be in Ella's class with her.

One day Ella came home with a stack of letters from each one of the kids. It was so sweet! Here is Ella's letter.
I enjoyed having Ella home this summer. She just quietly goes about her life--playing and working. With the end of August and the first of September, busy life began anew. Ella began 2nd grade. The highlight of her year was that Brock started coming to school, too, and she is able to see him on the bus and during lunch recess. The schools in our area are struggling with budget issues, and one of the repercussions of that is that we lost a teacher from Ella's scool to another school, leading them to form a combined 1st/2nd grade class of which Ella is a part. I was concerned about this since, being one of the older ones, I was concerned that she would get pulled down to a lower level. The school personnel have assured me and the other concerned parents that this would not happen. I attended a meeting one evening where the principal and the teacher talked about how this class was designed to challenge all the children involved. It sounded fairly convincing. I also have been impressed with what I've seen so far with Ella's teacher, so I decided to give it a go. The things Ella has been bringing home do look more challenging--the books her teacher is encouraging her to read, the spelling words, and some of the work. She's doing a good job with everything. For someone who struggled during kindergarten and the first part of first grade, it made me happy that Ella would be chosen to be part of an accelerated class.

We've started piano lessons up again and Ella hasn't given me an inch of trouble. She practices diligently and is pleasant during lessons. She also started clogging and is enjoying that. She is not playing a sport this season, and she's okay with that, though I think she'd have fun. She likes to wear her soccer jersey from last spring to Abbie's games on Saturdays. She likes me to put red bows in her hair to match her jersey and so that she'll look like Abs.

Ella has two loose tooth that poke out. A sibling will occasionally give her a hard time about it and she'll get shy and close her mouth. But I always make her smile big for me because I think it's cute. She had a third loose tooth recently that her dad pulled out at home. She's lucky she can eat at all!

Ella has gotten more more mature. She likes to plan and prepare for things well, much like her older sister. For example, when we go to watch football and soccer games on Saturdays she packs a little bag full of things to color and do. She's always prepared. She often plans out her outfits and is very organized in the morning as she gets ready for school.

She has beautiful blonde hair and full lips. She's lovely.

Ella is just so quiet and good. I am very grateful for her!

September 25, 2011. 2nd grade. 7 years old.

Ella started 2nd grade this year. Here is a pretty piece of work.
Ella started clogging on a competition team this year. They are novice level and they're being challenged much more than last year. She is stepping up to the challenge. She practices faithfully almost every day. I come to her class before it ends and video her dance. Then I put it on the kids' computer. She knows how to access it, so it works really smoothly to have her practice on her own.
Sweet note from a sweet girl.
The Roaring Springs waterpark ticket Ella earned for reading 600 minutes in the course of a month or so.
Ella and Brock and Mack set up a store in the little boys' room. They made all the things in their store out of paper. They made paper bags, paper books, and paper bridal veils. They also made little paper boats and little paper people to go in the boats. Very cute.
Book of Mormon primary party at the Church.
Primary water party and Sister Rausch's house.
I'm so excited to have Ella done with school and home with me. She's a sweetheart. I don't hear a lot from her. She quietly goes about playing and diligently doing her work. She's definitely the best at doing her work without complaining. The other kids will say it's because she doesn't have to do as much as they do, but I'm not convinced. I think she's a good little worker. She's in charge of feeding and watering the cats, and every so often she has to clean out their water bowl because it gets gross. She's so good about sitting there with paper towels, carefully cleaning up the bowl.

Even though Ella is quiet, I wouldn't necessarily characterize her as shy. She's very comfortable being silly around other little girls and her siblings. I like that she can be quiet and thoughtful, and still have a side that's comfortable letting loose, too.

It's been a cool June, which Ella has enjoyed. She's not a fan of being hot. Probably her favorite thing to do so far this summer is ride bikes. Her cute little bike kept having issues with its tire. Gregg and I would repeatedly put air in it, but finally it just gave out. We moved her up to Abbie's bike and now she's cruising around happily, relieved that she doesn't have to wait for us to put air in her tire every time she wants to ride it. She loveds zooming around the sidewalks and driveway, usually with Brock and Mack.

Summer has been a good thing for Abbie's and Ella's relationship, as they have turned to each other as friends in the absence of other friends. They like to play together, usually ponies or dolls. They decided to go through and clean out their room and reorgnize it. I was pretty excited about that project. They left one corner of their room empty and they call it their "cushion corner" or something like that. They bring blankets and pillows down there, and every so often I let them take a little TV into their room and watch a movie at night. They like to cuddle up and do that.

She still loves for me to check on her at night. She's so soft and sweet and affectionate. The other night I was drifting off to sleep when she showed up by my bedside, a little scared. My face was turned toward her, and she just smiled her sweet smile, cupped my face in her little hands and gave me a kiss. She just needed the reassurance that I was there (and not quite asleep) and she trotted off to bed.

I am enjoying getting to know my little Ella. Her quiet nature keeps her a bit of a mystery, but I am beginning to figure her out. I love her and I am thoroughly enjoying her.

June 18, 2010. Seven years old.

Ella turned seven on April 10th. Here are some bithday wishes for her.

For a couple years Ella has been asking to be able to play soccer. This spring it finally worked out to sign her up. She was excited to get on a team with a friend of hers and the coach was this friend's dad. Before her first game, she made this sign for Gregg to hold up. She is so funny!

Ella finished first grade in May. Here is her class, followed by her end-of-year report card.
With Brock and Mack still at home during the days, I don't feel like I can volunteer in all the kids' classes, but I wanted to make sure I got into Ella's class this year. I only did it once a month, but she'd get so excited when I'd come. She'd wait at the playground where she could best watch for me and get excited when I showed up. The other little girls would get excited, too (I think they get excited whem anyone comes), and they'd want my attention, too. Ella wasn't too excited about that. I loved getting to be in her class with her.
Ella read 600 minutes in a couple months to earn a free pass to the local waterpark. She really cruised with her reading this year.
Ella's music program at school.
With the end of the schoolyear came the end of clogging for the year. Ella danced in the end-of-year clogging recital. She wasn't feeling very well that evening, so she didn't enjoy it like she's enjoyed other performance opportunities. she was a trooper to get out there and dance even though she wasn't feeling well!

In the program, she is the far right little dancer in the picture on the very bottom.

Ella wrote a cute little story about two flamingos who were in love. My favorite part was on the second page where the sun is sticking his tongue out because he is grossed out by their lovey-dovey-behavior. He he!
Today is Easter. Ella doesn't need any new dresses. With new clothes and hand-me-downs, her closet is pretty full. But I couldn't resist getting my last little girl a beautiful Easter dress. Gregg actually picked it out. It is a beautiful peach color. she looks like a creamsicle. She's beautiful! And she's excited because it's not itchy. She has several gorgeous dresses in her closet that rarely get worn because they're uncomfortable. She has been begging me all week to get the Easter decorations out. We were always too busy until yesterday. She and Brock and Mack have been excitedly playing with their bunnies and baskets ever since.

We had Stake Conference today. Ella sat there quiet and still the entire time, just like her sister next to her. I had the noisy foursome of boys by me. Gregg was by the girls. At one point he turned to me and said, "I don't know what your problem is, I'm keeping the girls quiet just fine."

Ella continues to progress and grow beautifully in all areas of life. She's very organized and dutiful. I have no problems with her. She is enjoying soccer and clogging and school. Her hair is growing long. She is getting so pretty. She is fairly tall, with a lovely long neck, flawless skin, amazing hazel eyes, and the reddest, poutiest lips you ever saw. She is breathtaking. And so sweet. I love her hugs and kisses and hope she never grows out of them!

April 24, 2011. Seven years old. First grade.

Here a couple enjoyable Ella reads.
The best part of this picture isn't the picture. It's the note accompanying it telling me how much I will like it!
Ella turned seven on April 10th. She has never had a friend birthday party so we did one this year. She was so excited! We invited 6 cute little girls. We painted bags, made bracelets, played games, and ate cupcakes. That day I also took cupcakes into her class. Her actual birthday was on a Sunday so several family members came over to help us celebrate. She wanted a castle cake so I made her one. She requested spaghetti and strawberries, so that's what we ate!

Here is her party invitation.

This is a memo sent home weekly by Ella's teacher. On this one Ella and others are congratulated for completing a reading challenge every month of the schoolyear.
Ella is my sweet little Mommy's girl. She is extremely affectionate, showering me with kisses and hugs, and singing/saying at random times, "I love Mom." Sometimes she'll say, "I love Mom and I don't know why," which makes me smile. She loves me so unconditionally, and I am grateful to her for that. I marvel at her sweetness.

She is a diligent little girl. Several months ago she received her first "animal" chore. She is responsible to feed the cats. The whole family has been impressed at her diligence in fulfilling that assignment daily without being asked. She definitely gets the award in our household for being the most diligent with her chores. She similarly does her other work--homework, homeschool, and piano practicing--quietly, diligently, and without fuss.

She is enjoying clogging. She practices every Tuesday evening. He class and Abbie's are back to back, so she sits quietly in the studio for an hour during Abbie's class before hers. She has a class full of silly, giggly, cute little girls, and they have fun--sometimes too much fun in their class. This year the studio decided not to allow novice-level classes to participate in competitions. Ella was disappointed with this because, above all, she loves dancing onstage. She and Abbie and I traveled to Pocatello and back yesterday for Abbie's competition. She was patient and quiet throughout the whole thing--the drive and the hours of waiting at the competition. But she did lean over to me and whisper, as we were watching teams dance, "I wish I could dance onstage." She'll get her chance!

She loves to play with Brock. After she has completed all her work after school, those two generally disappear for hours, playing imaginative games. Brock loves it when she's around.

I love how she always has an art project she's working on. I love how she lays her clothes for school the next day out on the floor like a little Ella lying on the ground. I love watching her walk home from the bus in her pink coat and pink backpack. I love how much she loves when I come to her classroom and how she waits for me at recess, anxiously watching the parking lot for me. I love how when she's upset she'll throw her arms around my neck and just sob. I don't like how sometimes she's still sobbing an hour later--well, maybe I do like that, too. I love how she's a beauiful little blossom in my life.

March 13, 2011. Six years old. First grade.

Ella is in that stage of development in which she produces vast amounts of written material. This is one piece of writing that was particularly special to me. I found it lying around in her room one day and it made me appreciate her sweet little testimony. It is pure and simple, and, above all, genuine.

Spring 2010. Six years old. First grade.
For a year or so Ella has been asking to be able to play soccer. We've put her off because we have such busy sports schedules with the older kids, but this is her season! We signed her up and she has been very excited. We found out a few weeks ago that one of her best friends at school is on her team and that that little girl's dad is her coach. She is very excited.
Here is a cute book she wrote for Mack.
Getting Ella motivated about reading was a primary goal of mine as I started homeschool ths schoolyear. I made this chart to encourage her in her homeschool reading. With the completion of each lesson she got a sticker on her chart. When the sticker was next to a crown she received a prize out of our prize box I use for piano prizes. We plugged away at this chart at the beginning of the year. About halfway through reading finally clicked for her and she cruised throught he rest of it, getting prizes way too frequently. Mission accomplished. Incentive program has been laid to rest. Now she is loving reading. The other day she read an entire chapter book from cover to cover in one day. This is a huge improvement from the beginning of the year. Very exciting for me--and for her school teacher.
Ella earned every point on this spelling test--including the bonus words.
Abbie often makes Ella's lunch in the mornings. Here is a note she wrote on a napkin and tucked into Ella's lunch box.
Ella came home from school the other day so excited to make her valentines for her class. We printed some off the computer and she addressed them and cut them. We punched holes in them to stick suckers through. We didn't have the suckers yet; I told them I'd get them for her at the store the following Wednesday. She was anxious that I didn't forget, so she wrote me this note/shopping list. This is just like something Abbie would do.

February 2011. 6 years old.

A movie we went to as a family.
First Grade!
You've got to read this letter to Santa.

"For Christmas I want a real puppy with a bed and with some clothes and with a collar and a little Christmas tree for the puppy."

How cute is that?

Here are Ella's Primary speaking assignments. Notice Abbie's encouraging note at the bottom of Ella's talk.

Fall and Winter 2010. 6 years old.
Ella's primary program part.
At the drive-in movie Primary activity.
Some cute Ella artwork.
This picture needs a little explanation. The girl is Ella. So cute. The other individual is Gregg. One day Gregg came out of his room wearing a sleeveless muscle shirt and a skull cap. He was just being goofy and we were all laughing at him. Ella captured the image for generations.
As Ella's confidence with reading has grown, so has her love of writing. Look at these so cute Ella stories! They all end with a question, stating the problem in the story. So cute!!

"It was too rainy. My mom didn't let me go outside. So how can I go outside?"

"At school we are doin' the test. It was too hard. One word was too hard to spell. The word was 'cook.' That word is hard. How can I spell the word?"

"I give breakfast to my mom and dad, but they were asleep. I tried to wake them up, but they didn't wake up. So how can I wake them up?"

My favorite part of this story is the last line: "My Easter egg fell down. Smack, Smook. The end."
"Mom said to go to bed. I woke up in the morning. I got my clothes (klos) on and got downstairs and ate (eight) breakfast and got ready and got my backpack and got outside and got on the bus and then I was at school. I did homework. I love school and then I got home and then ate (eight) a snack and then went (gode) and played. Did homework."
Pretty good representation of a day in the life of Ella.
Ella got this chart from Gregg's office. With its completion she could get a new spinbrush. She worked so diligently on it and now has a pretty pink Barbie spinbrush in her bathroom.
A birthday party for one of her little school friends.
Isn't she beautiful?